August – Athlete Of The Month

What is your athletic background?: Worked at a gym a couple of years while in college and took a weight lifting class in college as well. I did some moderate exercising over the years and eased into CrossFit in August 2013.

What is your greatest accomplishment? Personal, professional and fitness related. : Personally, raising three great kids (2 sons pictured above, and 1 daughter not pictured). All of which are college grads, successful and they stay physically active. Professionally, I have two graduate degrees and in the last several years realized I had a knack for writing. I have several articles published in professional newsletters both here in Michigan and Illinois. Fitness-wise, I completed three Murph workouts! The last one was while in physical therapy for a frozen shoulder which is currently a work in progress.

Has CFR made you better? If yes, how so? : I was less informed about the importance of mobility before joining CFR. In fact it was one of the coaches at CFR, that pointed out that one arm did not flex at the elbow completely; I was completely unaware of this. After receiving some advice from a physical therapist, I have got the mobility almost where it should be.

What are your Top 5 favorite movies? : Shawshank Redemption, Search for Red October, The first God Father movie, The Wizard of Oz (there is more to this), and Ghost.

What is one thing we don’t know about you?: I have almost always had a car with a manual trans. My first four cars had a manual trans. I bought a car for the kids and of course it had a stick, so two of the three know how to drive a car with a stick. I had a hot rod mustang by the time the third one cane around, which was a challenge and lost patience with the last one.

What are your goals in life? Personal, professional and fitness related. : Personal goals are to stay fit and spread the word on nutrition. Professionally, take full advantage of reaching retirement which includes being healthy enough to keep doing what I like to do for as long as possible. Last year at this time, I did 17 consecutive pull ups, so once my shoulder gets back to where it should be, my intermediate goal is to do 20 unbroken and one at 133% of my weight. Longer term, being able to do a muscle up would be cool!